Follow Us!

Cooler Master V6GT Review

Closer Look:

The V6GT is by far the largest heatsink I have ever had my hands on. I have used plenty of 120mm heatsinks, even ones like the V6GT that have dual 120mm fans, but the V6GT is both tall and wide. The tinted blades on the fan have a wavy shape to them and present a unique look. The sides of the heatsink show the large width that the cooler has and the many aluminum fins that are attached to the heatpipes. Although the base is silver, it is listed as copper in the specifications chart, which means that it is probably plated with nickel or aluminum. The front and rear views show the interesting arrangement of the heatpipes.

The top of the V6GT has a neat design that subtly represents the top of an engine. It refers to the Cooler Master button at the top as an "oil cap" and the center looks like the typical "V" form of a the manifolds on a V6 engine as well. A look at the bottom gives another visual of how the heatpipes are laid out. This design is shown to provide better airflow around each heatpipe for maximum heat dissipation. The base has a protective film over it so that it is protected from scratches due to mishandling. Checking the flatness of the base reveals that it's not perfectly smooth, but it is far from unacceptable and will provide plenty of even contact.

One of the things that I found convenient in the V6GT's list of features is the snap on fan holders. These allow for the fans to be snapped off and exchanged without needing any tools or screws. After removing the fans, two screws in the top of each side can be removed to completely disassemble the cooler. The light in the top is powered by a 4-pin Molex connector and has a small circuit board attached to its underside that controls the ability to switch the colors of the LED. The 5-degree tilt of the fins is apparent when looking at the bare broad side of the V6GT. This tilt is said to improve heat transfer by providing a larger cooling surface. Without the fans, the V6GT sheds its width by about half, but still the bare core of the V6GT is very large and I would be interested to see how well it performs without fans. Though for a retail price of $69.99, it may not be worth the price to use it in such a way.

The fans that are supplied with the V6GT are two 120mm fans that are rated at 12V and 0.70A. The current draw on these fans provide good insight that they will move quite a bit of air and will probably not be very quiet at full speed. The fan specifications provided by Cooler Master state that each fan moves up to 94CFM at up to 38dBA. This certainly isn't deafening, but it will definitely be audible. The fans use 4-pin PWM connectors that plug into a splitter, which requires only the one 4-pin header on the motherboard to be used. The splitter is tagged with the heatsink's serial number. If a user wanted to upgrade the fans, this can easily be done. The removable fan covers have four small pegs that fit into the fans' mounting holes and helps to secure them.

Installation of the V6GT can take a little time and patience, especially since the massive weight of nearly 2.5lbs could stress the motherboard if installed improperly. The cooler is ready to be installed after attaching the appropriate back plate and mounting brackets. For 775/1156/1366 motherboards, the mounting brackets have to be configured differently depending on which socket is being used. Out of the package, the brackets are set up for socket 775. This cooler will be applied in a socket 1366 scenario, so I had to modify the screws' positions. From this point, I used the provided Cooler Master thermal paste and attached the heatsink per the provided directions.

The V6GT has four color modes. Each press of the "engine oil cap" rotates through having the LED be red, blue, purple, and turned off. For testing purposes, I had it on red. I think it accented the rest of the lighting in the case well. This cooler had no more than a quarter of an inch between the top of it and the side panel of the case. Given its large height, it may not fit in some smaller cases. This makes it important to check the clearance in the case if there may not be enough room.

After getting the V6GT installed and powered on, there was no doubt that the cooler means serious business when you take a listen to it at full speed. However at low speed, the fan is nearly inaudible. Hopefully the cooler will perform well enough to allow the user to leave the fans on low speed and still maintain acceptable temperatures. I will be exploring the performance of the V6GT soon, the moment I've been waiting for. The next page is a list of specifications and features as provided by the V6GT's product page on Cooler Master's website.